If tops on your fishing wish list would be willing stripers and waning crowds, then you’ve got it! The beaches off the New Hampshire coast are a Granite State best bet. The freshwater option looms large as pike feed aggressively as water temperatures plummet. Mackerel show no signs of departing Maine anytime soon and they remain pure magic as stripers find them hard to resist.
New Hampshire Fishing Report
To some such as Tim Moore, late September means freshwater! Proof is in the catching and he’s been into impressive pike from Moore Reservoir (no relation), the Belgrade Lakes and he’s been hammering the lakers from Winnipesaukee. He’s been pounding the pike with Big Tooth Tackle Juice Bucktails. Most of the northerns have been 26” – 28”, but he did have a 20-pound-class fish slice through his Tyger Wire leader. The lakers are staging at just over 100’ in 150’ of water. He vertically jigged 51 fish by late morning recently with Daddy Mac 1.4 Elite and Albie jigs. If you’d like to get your laker kicks, you had better hurry, the season ends September 30th! And all fishing ends for the year on Lake Winnipesauke October 15th.
Rick from Suds ‘N Soda said that eels are the number-one choice for sharpies still chasing stripers. Drifting with a three-way rig throughout the Piscataqua River is one option, another is to search for rips, anchor uptide and to the side, and cast toward the rip and slowly reel as the eel sweeps up to and through the rip. Beaches are popular now as some bass are schooling in preparation for the imminent migration. Rockpiles, bars, jetties are all high-percentage spots with chunk mackerel and the mighty eel preferred baits. It may be worth your time to check out the docks in Hampton, Rye and Wentworth Harbors and see if there are any smelt swimming around. Unquestionably the last two seasons have been dismal in Great Bay during the winter BUT the Bay State has been experiencing a far more promising fall than the last few and just maybe its New Hampshire’s turn! Unexpectedly there has been a reappearance of black sea bass in the Piscataqua River. Vertical jigging over humps and lumps is the way to tempt black sea bass.
Southern Maine Fishing Report
According to Brandy from Webhannet Bait and Tackle it’s a case of less enjoying more! Participation may be waning but the catching is impressive! Mackerel remain a common catch, even from shore! Live and chunk mackerel have been responsible for 38” to 44” fish from Saco Bay to the Kennebunk River. One angler had a 20 fish outing on topwater plugs in 1 ½ hours on the north side of Drake Island Beach. Ebbing tide at the inlet of Little River has been the best combination. An angler looking for mackerel about 6 – 8 miles east of Cape Porpoise jigged up a bunch of northern halfbeaks: a feat which is highly unusual this late in the season. If you’re looking to make a pre-leaf peeper trip Downeast, they are having no problem catching all the mackerel they want right from the docks of Acadia’s Southwest Harbor.
Fishing Forecast
If you’d prefer less salt in your diet than consider pike which are on the feed in proven pike places such as Moore Reservoir and the Belgrade Lakes. If there’s not quit in you as long as stripers are still swimming off the coast than grab some eels and pound a Piscataqua River rip. Chances are if you’re seeking stripers from Saco Bay through Drake’s Island the only company you’ll have is mackerel and hungry striped bass.
The report of a Guide catching 51 lake trout in a morning on Lake Winni is a bit disconcerting…the limit on Lake Winni is (2) lake trout…I find it hard to believe that out of the 51 lakers caught and brought up from deep water that only 2 of the lakers died. I don’t think the lakers should be hammered like that as they gather to prepare to spawn. After all lakers are not stocked in Lake Winni; the lake depends on natural reproduction to sustain the lake trout fishery.
Good point Greg, in hindsight it does look like a bit much. Obviously it’s an indicator of how healthy the lake trout population is. While I can’t speak for the Winnie faithful, I do know that many who fish Quabbin in the bay state feel that there are too many lakers and the smelt forage could use less predators which would ultimately improve the fishery for the ultimate prize – the landlocked salmon. Regardless, those decisions are best left to the biologists and fisheries managers and should be respected. To Tim’s credit, he is an accomplished guide and it is highly doubtful the average angler could pull that feat off.
What a little bitch , so your saying if your on the fish and the bite is hot your going to stop fishing? Quit being jealous. More than enough lakers in that lake and one more time. STFU